Same Souls, Different Souls
by Fae Elric
Summary: Two souls, two worlds. Both are the same, yet radically different. But what if they were to switch places? [FMANarnia crossover, mild RoyEd]
1. Prologue

**Same Souls, Different Souls**

**By Fae Elric, the Steel Alchemist**

**A/N: **Oh, my God, the summary sucks! This idea was inspired by a thought I had after hearing about what Lina of BlackMercifulFaerie and her sister said while watching Narnia one day. (Everyone smile and wave at Lina! Quack, damn you! XP) I can't tell you much more than that, seeing as how it would give away too much at this point… (grins cheekily) Nyah nyah!

**Disclaimer: **If I'm lying, I'm dying, people, and I'm still here so I must be telling the truth when I say that I don't own any of this! (Except for the story itself.)

_**Prologue**_

_The Gate of Truth, in all its terrible power and elegance, loomed before him. The "him" in question was a blonde eleven-year-old boy who was rather short for his age. Normally such comments would bother this blonde wunderkind._

_But not on this night._

_This was the night Edward and Alphonse Elric had planned for nearly a year and a half. This was the night when wrongs would be undone, the forbidden would be committed, the dead would become living._

_Their plan failed._

_The equation was perfect; the array had been painstakingly drawn over a period of two days. It was they who made the mistake. They had offered nothing to sacrifice. There was nothing to trade their mother's soul for._

And humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.

_The doors of the Gate flung themselves open. Little black hands made of shadow reached out to grab him. He could feel them on his skin, whisper-soft and cold as ice-- but then he felt them slide _into_ him. He gasped as the shadow-hands clutched at his center, ripping the soul from his body like the vicious talons of a raptor tearing its prey in two._

_When he next opened his eyes, he knew, he _felt_, that something was off. This room, the one that was familiar but not familiar, was not his room. The bed he lay in was not his bed. These clothes were not his._

_Slowly, he pushed back the quilt that covered him and padded over to the window. He saw his reflection._

_Or rather, the reflection that was his but not his._

_Edward knew that this could not be his body. This boy-- whoever he was-- had not golden hair, but dark brown hair that was currently mussed from sleep. His eyes were a deep chocolate color, not aureate. This was not Edward. It couldn't be._

_But it was. Edward lifted his right hand and saw the reflection do the same._

This isn't happening, _Edward told himself. _It can't be.

Hey! What's going on here! _A fearful voice cut like a razor into his thoughts._

_Even at such a young age, it didn't take Edward long to figure out that his soul had, somehow, invaded someone else's body and that this voice belonged to the soul whose body this really was._

I wish I could tell you, _Edward said to the rightful owner of the body. _I don't really want to be here, either.

Then leave! _The boy's voice, tinged with an accent that Edward had difficulty placing, couldn't have been much younger than his own. Edward judged it to be about two or three years younger. Despite his attempts to sound brave, the boy's voice was obviously laced with terror._

_Edward sighed. _I don't know how. I don't even know if I _can_ go back.

_The voice was silent. Then, hesitantly, _ Who are you? 

My name is Edward Elric, _he said. _I'm from Resembool.

Resembool? 

Yeah. It's a small village in the Eastern region of Amestris.

There isn't any place called Amestris, _the boy said. _ Where are you really from? 

Hey, I answered your question, now you answer mine: who are _you?_

_The boy, who did seem awfully accepting of another soul inhabiting his body despite being completely terrified, said, _ I'm Edmund Pevensie. I live here in Finchley with my family. 

_There was something about hearing the boy say his own name that made Edward visualize a younger boy, the same boy whose body his soul now inhabited, playing in a backyard somewhere with another boy and a girl, both older than him. While the older boy sported a head of strawberry-blonde, the girl was a brunette like Edmund. Names came unconsciously to Edward's mind: Peter and Susan. A toddler waddled out into the backyard with a huge smile plastered onto her face. Another name: Lucy. A man and a woman, undoubtedly Edmund's parents, walked out after Lucy into the sunshine. Lucy padded over to Edmund and held out her arms, signaling that she wanted to be picked up; Edmund happily did so while beaming widely. Their father put his arm around their mother's shoulder as they watched all four children playing together. You didn't even have to be there to know that these children had a good life. They lived in a nice home, didn't want for anything. _

_You didn't have to be there to know that these children were loved._

_And Edward couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy for it. His own father had abandoned them, leaving behind a loving wife who died of a broken heart._

_Hohenheim had left behind two sons: one who was too small to understand what had happened… and one who had loved him more than anything in this world._

_"Ed?" Edward jumped at the voice that came from behind him. He turned to see Edmund's older brother, Peter (who now looked to be about twelve or thirteen), sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes sleepily. Edward panicked for a moment, thinking that Peter somehow knew of his invasion of Edmund's body. But he had panicked too soon, for Peter then asked, "Are you all right, Edmund?"_

_Edward heaved an internal sigh of relief before answering, "Yeah, I'm fine. I couldn't sleep, is all." He thought it strange to speak and hear another's voice. At his reassurance Peter laid back down to go back to sleep._

_Edward turned his attention back to Edmund. _Look, I don't know why, but my soul was drawn towards _your _body. I'm thinking that we--

_But he was never able to finish that thought, because the Gate was already pulling him back to his own world. He passed through the Gate once more, looking upon its horrible and beautiful form before opening his eyes and seeing a thick cloud of smoke in the middle of the small basement. He felt a pain worse than any other he had ever experienced before. Edward bit back a scream of agony when he realized that his left leg was gone and that Alphonse, his only family left, had been taken from him._

_He lifted his gaze hopefully to the clearing smoke. If his mother was there, then maybe everything would be all right--_

_It wasn't human. It hadn't worked. _

_They had failed._

_This time, Edward really did scream._

_------_

_Edmund Pevensie woke the next morning with a slight ache in the middle of his chest. He remembered bits and pieces of the strangest dream: he had been sleeping when, all of a sudden, he felt him be pushed to the side of his own mind. He had heard another voice speak to him from _inside _of himself. Someone named Edward…_

_He yawned and stretched his arms behind his head before ambling sleepily into the kitchen, where he knew his mother, father, Peter, and Susan would be._

------

**A/N: **So… can anyone tell me (besides you, Lina) what exactly Edward and Edmund's "special connection" is? I know you guys are really smart! Come on, just humor me and guess!


	2. Azure

**Disclaimer: **Do we really even need these anymore? I. DO. NOT. OWN. But I did paint my fingernails a pretty blue color.

_**Chapter One: Azure**_

"Stupid bastard colonel."

Alphonse Elric sighed within the steel confines that enclosed his soul. This was not the first time Edward had said this. Maybe in that particular minute…

Edward glared out the window of the train. They were currently heading northbound on a mission Colonel Mustang had recently assigned them.

And, as usual, Edward was pissed.

"I mean, we just got back from another one of his stupid missions! Aren't we supposed to get a break or something? Man, if I ever get the chance to fight him one-on-one again..."

Al tried his best to ignore his older brother's ranting. _And they're off, folks…_

"He's such an arrogant asshole! He thinks he's so much better than me just because he's taller! And then--"

"Brother," Al interrupted, "if he's so stupid, then why are you in love with him?"

Edward's jaw hit the floor as he stared incredulously at his brother. He promptly shut his mouth, opened it, closed it again. He blushed. "How did you… when…"

"Just because I'm hollow doesn't mean I don't have a brain," Al chided. "You're not exactly good at hiding things like that, either. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

"I had hoped you wouldn't!" Edward huffed indignantly. "That'd make my life a hell of a lot easier."

It had been painfully obvious from the get-go. It had started with looks: Edward had stolen love-struck glances at the Flame Colonel whenever he thought no one was looking. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't very good at judging these times, and Roy, on more than one occasion, had caught Edward watching him. Roy hadn't said anything to him yet, but it had to be coming. Everyone in the office, including Riza (who didn't normally join in on these types of things), had placed bets on when Roy would confront Edward, how it would end, who would get blown up, et cetera…

Eventually, Edward's looking had grown into a full-blown crush, complete with awkwardness whenever he was around Roy and more than the occasional dream. Naturally, Edward's co-workers had placed bets on when Edward would confess to Roy, what buildings would be destroyed, who would get their ass kicked for placing such a stupid bet in the first place.

In short, everyone was betting on the usual business.

The blonde slunk down in his seat. "Damn it all, Al, you're growing up."

"I know," Al said quietly.

------

Whereas Edward had grown up to be Hero of the People, Edmund had grown up to be a right pain in the ass. Now at the rebellious age of thirteen, Edmund wanted little to do with his family, especially Peter. And where Edward hated his father, Edmund adored his. When Mr. Pevensie was sent off to fight the good fight, Edmund was devastated, even more so than any other of his family members. Edmund only wanted to be like his father, because than maybe he'd see just how special he was. Sure, Peter was great, but wouldn't it be better if he had a son that was just like him?

During an air raid, it had been Edmund who had foolishly run back into the house for the picture of the Pevensie patriarch. Of course, it had been Peter who came to save him. He didn't need saving; couldn't Peter see that? Didn't he understand that he wanted nothing to do with him?

When Lucy claimed to have found a land called Narnia in the upstairs wardrobe of the professor's home, nobody believed her. But when Edmund tried to make an innocent joke out of it, Peter lashed out at him.

"Oh, you just stop," Peter had said to him.

"It was just a joke!" Edmund told him. What was the harm in a little joke?

"You're just making everything worse, Ed."

Edmund had finally reached his breaking point as he shouted, "You think you're Dad, but you're not!" He stormed out of the room.

It was not until many years later that Edmund understood just how much pain those words had caused his only brother. Peter, he realized, was only trying to protect everyone and keep them happy, even if it meant forgetting about taking care of himself.

But that realization came a few years too late. At that moment, Edmund had only one goal in mind.

To reach Jadis' castle.

He blindly marched through the snow, knowing only to keep moving towards the two hills in front of him, those two hills that seemed to be getting closer every minute. He wondered if his siblings or the beavers would even notice his absence. Scowling, he shoved those thoughts to the very back of his mind. Who cared about them, anyway?

It felt like ages since he had snuck out of the beaver's dam, but he had finally reached the home of Jadis herself. His fingers had long since gone numb; his soaking shoes felt like giant ice cubes attached to the ends of his legs. He was sure that his entire face was blue from the cold. But it was worth it. Edmund knew that Jadis would be happy to see him. After all, he _had _brought all his siblings to Narnia.

_His siblings. _Edmund pushed them aside once more as he swallowed and entered the Witch's castle.

------

Peter, Susan, and Lucy scrambled up the snowy embankment after Beaver. They had to reach Edmund before he reached the Witch. Who knew what would happen if they didn't?

They cleared the top of the hill, an icy castle looming before them.

"Edmund!" Lucy shouted. _"Edmund!"_

Beaver shushed her and said, "Quiet! They'll hear you!"

Peter moved as if to run towards the castle, but Beaver latched himself onto his arm. "What are you doing? You can't go there!"

"No! Let go of me!" Peter was forced to shake his arm violently to detach Beaver. He turned back to the castle in time to see a small figure walk inside the gateway and close the doors of ice behind him. _Oh, Edmund_, thought Peter,_ what have you done?_

_------_

Edward was _not _happy. The colonel specifically told him to search _this _broken-down piece of junk that passed as a warehouse. But this hunk of plaster and steel had absolutely, positively _nothing _that related to the fugitive they were hunting.

"Brother, who are we supposed to be looking for again?" Al asked.

"Some guy named the Azure Alchemist," Edward answered, angrily kicking a pile of rubble. "Apparently his research got out of hand, so the military stopped giving him funds. When they did that, he ran off somewhere and turned renegade." He sighed, frustrated, and ran his fingers through his bangs. "Stupid Mustang… he probably knew we wouldn't find this guy and sent us on a wild goose chase anyway!" He flopped down on the grown, crossing his arms and glaring at the wide expanse of nothing but rubble and decay.

Determined to keep his brother on ask, no matter how badly their mission was turning out, Al asked him, "What kind of research was Azure doing, Brother?"

"Dunno," he replied. "Mustang was kinda sketchy on the fine details; he said he wasn't really sure himself, and that part of this stupid mission was to find out." He snorted angrily. "So much for that idea."

Unfortunately, during his rants Edward hadn't noticed the figure hiding in the shadows. "Oh, my," the figure now said, "if I had known the military was sending a little pipsqueak like you after me, I wouldn't have needed to hide, would I?" He walked out of the shadows, revealing a somewhat tall man with long, black hair that hung lank about his face and shoulders. His clothes-- a military-issued uniform, Al noticed-- were dirty, splotches of a dark brown substance covering almost every inch of the cloth. Al wondered momentarily if it was blood.

Edward was on his feet in an instant. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALLER THAN A BLADE OF FRESHLY MOWED GRASS!"

"That would be you," the figure replied, casually inspecting his fingernails, as if disinterested.

Placing a restraining hand on Edward's shoulder, Al inquired of the filthy man, "Who are you?" He felt that he knew the answer already, but was afraid of being right.

"I am the Azure Alchemist," he said, confirming Al's suspicions. He bowed deeply and held out his arm, gesturing to the warehouse around them. "Welcome to my lair." Azure grinned maliciously.

------

**A/N: **Thanks to Edward's potty mouth, this is no longer a K-rated story. It was coming eventually. And I remember telling someone that this wouldn't have any pairings in it, but I suppose the story had other plans. (I am a filthy rotten liar, I know…) So HA! It's now a RoyEd! If you don't like it, too bad for you! (ahem) Sorry 'bout that… I get carried away sometimes… Anyway, I know I haven't focused on Edmund too much, so I'll try to do that a bit more in the next chapter or so. And I know I'm not the best, so bear with me for a while until I get all the introductory crap out of the way. Have any more of you guys figured out Edward and Edmund's connection? Only two of you have gotten it right so far…


	3. Switch

**A/N: **tee hee… I just watched "Man With the Mechanical Arm" again. And even though I am (and always have been) an Ed fangirl… Roy's flippin COOL! "My name is Roy Mustang. You can call me Lieutenant Colonel. Hell, you can call me Flame Alchemist. Whatever you do, remember the pain."

**Disclaimer: **I'm not even sure that I own my own soul anymore…

_**Chapter Two: Switch**_

Edmund was cold.

_Very _cold.

And upset.

Why hadn't she been happy to see him? He did bring them, after all. Just not to her castle.

He folded his legs against his chest, wrapping his arms around them and resting his chin on his knees miserably. _Why was I so _stupid?he wondered. _I should've listened to Lucy back when I still had the chance. _Edmund regarded the stale bread and frozen water they had given him with disinterest. He had already tried to eat it, gagged, and went back to his moping. There wasn't much you could do when your ankles were shackled to the floor, was there?

Edmund was startled when he heard a voice from his left say, "If… you're not going to eat that…"

Edmund looked up to see a creature looking more miserable than he felt, which was saying a lot. He saw a man with… horns and goat legs? What were those called again? Fauns, right. He saw a faun lying on the floor of his own icy prison with a dull red scarf wrapped around his neck. Edmund doubted the scarf was doing him any good in this place. Nevertheless, he understood the implied question and slid over to the gap in the wall, handing the faun the stale bread, which he began to wolf down like there was no tomorrow. And for all Edmund knew, there was probably a good possibility of that.

He remembered that the faun Lucy called "Mr. Tumnus" was arrested by Jadis' secret police. "Mr.… Tumnus?"

The faun stopped eating suddenly and said softly, "What's left of him." He hesitated a moment before asking, "You're Lucy Pevensie's brother?"

"Yeah." Edmund found a particularly interesting spot on the floor to stare at.

Tumnus smiled ever so slightly and told him, "You have the same nose."

Edmund brought his sleeve up to his face and wiped his nose, wanting to forget everything he had done till now. It was, after all, his fault that Tumnus was arrested in the first place.

He winced and brought his hand up, rubbing the middle of his chest. He felt a slight ache there, but it wasn't borne of any emotion. No… this pain brought back memories of a morning when he had woken up after the strangest of dreams…

It was the last thing he thought of before the soul was ripped from his body.

------

Edward stared, dumbfounded. "Wait… _You're_ Azure?"

Azure's malicious grin widened. "The one and only."

Edward burst out laughing. "No way!" he choked out between gales of laughter.

Upon spotting the renegade alchemist's dangerous-looking frown, Alphonse whispered, "Brother, maybe you shouldn't laugh at him. You're going to make him angry."

"Oh, I'm _so_ scared." Edward's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I laugh in the face of danger!"

Alphonse began tallying the costs for a possible upcoming hospital stay for his brother. _Just in case this doesn't go according to plan…and they almost never do, _he thought.

"You dare laugh at me?" Azure demanded angrily.

"Yup!" Edward grinned widely.

"Brother!" Al hissed. "What do you think you're doing? He'll attack us if you keep this up!"

"I know," Edward said out of the corner of his mouth. "That's what I'm counting on. How else am I supposed to take out my frustration over this stupid mission? Unless you'd rather have me pummel Mustang…" He let the end of the sentence hang ominously in the air. _I have to admit, beating Mustang to a pulp doesn't sound too bad right now. Even if he _is_ one of the best officers we've got. Stupid sexy bastard._

"As long as you know what you're doing, Brother," Al sighed. _This won't end well._

During the brothers' banter, Azure had become increasingly livid. His face, which had previously been paler than Mustang's, was now covered in splotches of red and purple. His hands had curled into fists, his nails biting into his hands and drawing blood. "You want _danger_, little boy?" he shouted. "I'll show you _danger_!" He ran back into the shadows that undoubtedly fed into a corridor.

Edward was now equally, if not more, irate. "I. AM. NOT. SMALL!" He rushed after Azure with Al close behind.

Azure led them down into an impossible labyrinth of hallways. Left, right, around the corner, left, left, right. Down some stairs, around another corner, down more stairs and hope you don't fall…

Edward skidded to a halt, his blood pounding in his ears. He wasn't tired; he had had far longer chases than this in the past. It was just… something didn't feel quite right to him. He hadn't heard anything from in front of him for quite some time.

"Something wrong, Brother?" Al asked, sensing his brother's unease.

"Yeah," Edward said slowly. "I lost the sound of his footsteps a couple of minutes ago. Can you hear anything?"

Al shook his head. "No, sorry." He looked behind him, as if expecting to see Azure there. Instead he saw light spilling out from the near-invisible doorway to a small room. "Brother, look," he whispered.

Edward turned around and saw the light. "I'll be damned," he muttered. "I ran right past him!" He jogged up to the door of the little room, peering through the small slit created by the door. "I don't see him in there, Al," he whispered. He pushed the door open with his automail foot, checking for booby traps. Nothing. He slowly walked into the room while Al waited outside the threshold; Edward warily placed his hands close together in case there was need for a quick transmutation. There was no sign of Azure. The concrete walls couldn't possibly offer any hiding places; their smooth surfaces were perfect, no marks being blatantly obvious.

Despite this, Edward couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. He crossed the room, looking closer at the opposite wall. He removed the glove from his left hand and ran his flesh fingertips over the concrete. There were lines carved into the wall that were only a hair's breadth wide; they swirled and danced across the surface of the wall, creating an intricate design. He frowned slightly and cursed under his breath. He knew exactly what these lines were.

Azure had carved a transmutation circle into the wall.

Edward had never seen an array of this complexity, not even the one they had used for their attempted human transmutation. That array had been hexagonal in form, and the one Edward almost used in Lab Five was octagonal, but the transmutation circle Azure had drawn used a decagon. There were symbols carved along the outward edge, symbols that were no doubt letters from an ancient language long forgotten.

In all his curiosity, Edward had forgotten to look up.

For there was the Azure Alchemist.

Azure dropped down from his perch on the incomplete rafters that blended with the unfinished floor of the second story, landing gracefully, almost like a cat. Edward heard Al calling to him, telling him to watch out. He whirled around to see Azure slam his hands on the wall to his left, activating a similar array. Edward watched in horror as he realized that Azure had managed to connect the array he stood in front of with the activated array as well as two others, each on a different wall.

The last thing he saw was alchemic energy pulsing towards him, lighting up the lines and symbols of the transmutation circles.

------

When Edmund regained consciousness, he found that he was no longer in his icy dungeon cell. Instead, he was lying on the floor of an old abandoned warehouse. He, of course, had no way of knowing this, as his eyes were still clamped firmly shut. The only things he could see were the images forced into his brain by a massive, awe-inspiring gateway. There had been a bomb that was dropped on an island country, and an explosion that made clouds that looked like mushrooms. _No! _he thought. _My mum's still in London! She can't be gone! She can't! She promised me we'd all get back home!_

Presently he became aware of a small boy's voice shouting, "What did you do to him? _What did you do to my brother?_"

Edmund opened his eyes to see a rather large person wearing armor hauling up a rather tall and dirty man by his collar, the larger of the two shouting in the other's face. The lanky man only grinned and held up his hands, feigning innocence. "Why, I have no idea what you're talking about."

The one in the armor balled his hand into a fist and swung, striking the greasy-haired one. "Don't play dumb! You did something to him!"

The other only gestured towards Edmund, who had pulled himself up into a sitting position. "You see? He's fine." He grinned maliciously as the one wearing armor released his hold him, turning his back on the one he had just punched; the lanky man used this opportunity to jump to the rafters to make a quick getaway.

"Brother!" the armored one cried, kneeling next to Edmund. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Edmund could only stare incredulously at the small voice that was coming from the interior of the large suit of armor. "I'm sorry, but… who are you?"

------

Edward opened his eyes feeling extremely cold. His feet were shackled together and chained to the floor. _What the hell…? Where am I?_

"Edmund?"

He turned to the voice that had spoken to his left. Edward was almost shocked beyond words as his gaze fell on a man whose lower half resembled that of a goat. _What the hell kind of chimera is _that_? Who was able to create one like this? Azure? Is that why the military stopped funding him?_

The goat-man spoke again. "Are you all right, Edmund Pevensie?"

And Edward instantly remembered his soul being transferred to another's body on the night of the failed transmutation. Specifically, he remembered his soul being put in _Edmund's_ body.

"You have got to be kidding me."

------

**A/N: **I thought of ending this chapter (longest so far, by the way!) at Edmund questioning who Al was, but I wanted to get Edward's reaction in there, too. (In case you couldn't tell, the bomb mentioned was the atom bomb being dropped on Japan, which Edmund mistook for being England.) Well, another one down, God only knows how many to go…

**Edward: **WHAT? YOU MEAN THERE'S MORE OF THESE!

**A/N: **Duh. I can't just start this and then not finish it.

**Edward: **WHY NOT?

**A/N: **Because it's against my religion.

**Edmund: **…You're an atheist.

**A/N: **Shut it, you.


	4. New Beginnings

**A/N: **Holy bejeebuses! I never thought I'd get over 900 hits for one of my stories! ((wink) (wink) It's a drabble collection called "Fae Elric Presents". (nudge) Go read it!) And I'm very sorry for not updating sooner! Life and school kinda ran away with me and I haven't really had the time to sit down and write…

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own it. But I did manage to save money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

_**Chapter Three: New Beginnings**_

Edmund stared out the window of the car, watching the buildings fly by and wondering about this "Mustang" Al had talked about. He sighed. How was he ever supposed to get used to this messed-up place? It had been enough of a shock to find out that Narnia was real, but this… how could he describe it? He didn't know anyone here, Al being the only exception. And there was something very wrong here. He didn't look or sound like himself. He sounded like Edward. He had blonde hair and yellow eyes, if you could believe it. He didn't think people could even have yellow eyes. And then there was the "automail". The metal limbs felt heavy and cumbersome. He found it difficult to move around with them. _How do you get metal arms and legs, anyway? _he wondered. _What happened to Edward? And why won't his brother take off that armor?_

To say that Edmund didn't like his current situation would be a huge understatement. Truth be told, he had never been more confused in his life. He was stuck in a weird place with a whole bunch of weird people.

Edmund thought back to his first meeting with Al…

_The boy in the armor fell silent. "What do you mean, 'who am I'? It's me, Al," he finally said._

_The Pevensie boy said, "Well, that's just it. I don't know anyone named Al."_

_Al felt the icy grip of panic close in on him. "What do you keep talking about, Brother?" he asked, his voice wavering. _

_"What? Brother? No, you must be mistaken," Edmund told him matter-of-factly. "My brother's name is Peter. I don't know who you are." _

_"This is some kind of a joke, right, Brother?" Al sounded close to tears._

_"I told you," said Edmund, beginning to become a bit irritated, "we're not brothers. My name is Edmund. Edmund Pevensie. I live in Finchley. I don't quite know how I got here; one minute I was sitting down talking to a…" He paused for a moment; somehow he thought that saying he as talking to a faun would warrant him a trip to the loony bin. "I was talking to a friend of my sister's, and then I saw this big gate--"_

_"Gate?" Al asked. "What did it look like?"_

_"Well, it was massive. And the doors were black, probably made of some kind of stone. I remember seeing an eye carved into them. Then they opened and I found myself here. Why?"_

_"This is bad," Al said. "Very bad."_

_------_

The goat-man stared at Edward. And stared. And stared.

And stared.

"What do you mean by 'kidding you'?" he asked. "I'm not quite sure I know what you mean."

Edward ignored him. He was too busy pounding his-- excuse me, _Edmund's_-- head into the icy wall behind him. _This is bad, bad, bad! Why the hell does this have to happen now? _He found a small pebble lying nearby and picked it up, using it to scratch a transmutation circle into the floor. He figured that a small array would be less conspicuous than clapping his hands together like he always did. Edward tossed the pebble aside and pressed his fingers to the array.

Nothing.

Edward's jaw nearly hit the floor. _No alchemy? How am I supposed to get myself out of here?_

"Is everything all right, Edmund?" Tumnus asked warily, airing on the side of caution. It was almost as if Edmund had become a completely different person in the small time that they had been talking. _…Nah, _Tumnus thought.

"No, everything is not all right," Edward said, speaking only for the second time since waking up in this body. "How am I supposed to get out of here?"

Tumnus looked at him as if he were daft. "Dear boy, I don't believe you quite understand the concept of being locked in a dungeon. You're not supposed to get out."

"Then how long until they let me out?" Edward demanded hotly.

Before Tumnus could answer, the door to the dungeon was flung open, revealing a rather tall woman with a crown of icicles upon her head. Everything about her seemed washed-out; her skin was the palest Edward had ever seen and her dress was white enough to blind someone when the light reflected off of it. Edward's only thought was, _Who's the marshmallow freak?_

"My wolves searched all over that dam," she announced furiously, "and they were no where to be found. Where are they?"

"Please, Your Majesty," Tumnus begged, "he hasn't been here long. He can't possibly know all of Narnia." A glare from the woman in white silenced him.

Edward's heart began to pound a little bit faster. This woman, he knew, was nothing but trouble. Whoever she was looking for was somehow connected to Edmund. Edward knew that he didn't really stand much of a chance at this point, given that he was unable to use alchemy. He remembered that the last time his soul was in Edmund's body, something had given him access to the boy's memories. Edward closed his eyes, inhaling slowly, and tried to search for any memory that would help him understand what was going on.

Almost instantly, an unclear image came to mind. Edward fought the urge to smile. _Even though my soul seems to have replaced his, my brain hasn't replaced the one belonging to this body. _He could see Edmund standing behind a table where three people sat with their backs to him. They appeared to be talking to… beavers. Despite this oddity, Edward sensed, rather than heard, one of the beavers talking about someone named "Aslan" and something called the "Stone Table". It seemed as though the three were going to meet this Aslan person at the Stone Table.

"They're going to the Stone Table to meet Aslan," Edward said.

The woman's grim look turned slightly wicked. "Thank you, Edmund. Guard," she called, "take the faun out of his cell and bring him to me."

A large troll lumbered in and hammered the chains from Tumnus' legs, causing him to shout out in pain. Tumnus was dragged to the woman's feet.

"Do you know why you are here, faun?" she inquired.

Looking up with fire in his eyes, Tumnus told her, "Because I believe in a free Narnia."

The woman looked even more malevolent than before. "You're here because that boy," here she pointed her scepter of ice at Edward, "turned you in… for sweeties."

Edward felt his stomach drop out as Tumnus looked at him in complete disbelief, pain shining in his deep brown eyes. _What the hell did Edmund do? _

------

_Edmund sat at a nearby bench as Al dialed a number on a payphone. "Hello, Lieutenant Hawkeye, it's me, Al… um, well, I need to speak to Colonel Mustang… all right, thank you."_

_As Al waited for his call to be patched through to the colonel, Edmund asked him, "Who are you talking to?"_

_"Well, my brother is in the military and I'm trying to call his commanding officer to see if he can help with our… situation." Alphonse was silent for a moment before talking into the payphone once more. "Yes, Colonel, I'm here…well, I'm having a slight problem… yes, it concerns Brother…no, he didn't blow any buildings up this time. Listen, it's kind of hard to explain over the phone and I really think that seeing him in person will help… all right, we'll be on the next train that leaves to Central. We'll be there in a few hours."_

_"What's going on now?" Edmund asked, watching as Al hung up the phone._

_"We're going to see Colonel Mustang."_

Now standing before the mahogany doors that led to Mustang's office, Edmund felt strangely at peace with everything going on around him. That's not to say that he was beginning to like his new situation; rather, he felt calm. He had a feeling that Mustang would be able to help them.

"Um, Edmund," Al began nervously. He checked around them to see if anyone was possibly listening to anything they might say. Since there was no one in the immediate vicinity, he said, "There's something I think I should tell you before we go in there…"

"Yes?" Edmund asked warily.

"Well, see, the thing is… my brother is in love with Mustang."

Edmund's brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait, isn't this Mustang person a _man?_"

Al nodded sheepishly.

"So, you mean your brother is…"

Al nodded again.

"Well, all right then," Edmund said, feeling woozier by the second. His words were starting to slur together. "Let's just… go… and…"

Al only sighed as Edmund collapsed into a dead faint.

------

**A/N: **Finally! I've finished another chapter! And I'm sorry if Edmund's reaction was not outrageous enough for you. 'Twas all I could really think of… and it kinda fits in with a scene I have planned for later. (sighs in relief) Well, now that I've got that done, I can go cram for my AP Bio exam in peace…


	5. Not What It Seems

**A/N: **Ah, yes, here we are once again at the start of another chapter. Don't expect fast updates; I have to start packing my stuff and repainting my room, which will take quite some time. But just because I'm moving doesn't mean that I'll abandon you guys! I love you all too much!

**Disclaimer: **I got a dollar, I got a dollar! I got a dollar, hey, hey, hey, hey! …Oh wait, no I don't… How do you expect me to own FMA when I don't even own a dollar?

_**Chapter Four: Not What It Seems**_

_Fold. Crease. Bring corner over and fold into square. Flip over. Repeat._

Roy Mustang did not like paperwork.

That was why he was currently using said paperwork to make paper cranes.

He folded, adjusted, folded some more. Heard a loud _thump _outside his door as he reached for the next sheet of paper.

He paused, lifting one slender eyebrow before the door opened and Alphonse Elric walked in, carrying his older brother in his steel arms. Al walked over to the narrow couch in the middle of the room and gently laid Edward down.

Roy abandoned his paper folding for now, choosing instead to stand and amble over to the comatose Elric. "Did you run out of coffee again?" he asked.

"Um, no." Al squirmed slightly. "He fainted." _I'm sure he'd love to know why, _Al thought wryly, _but I think I'll leave that part up to Brother. _An image of his brother grinning his trademark grin designed to hide the pain of his sins came into his mind. _I'll find a way to bring you back, Brother. I promise._

Roy's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "Since when does the Fullmetal Alchemist faint?" He began to smirk, already thinking of ways to tease Edward for fainting, of all things.

"Well, that's the thing," Al said nervously. "That's not Brother."

Flame's eyes narrowed and the smirk grew into a frown as he asked, "What do you mean?"

------

Edmund could vaguely hear voices coming from somewhere above him. "What do you mean?" he heard someone ask.

"_That's_ what I mean." Al's voice; that much he knew for sure. But there was something familiar about that other voice. Edmund knew that he had never heard it before, but was there some possibility that Edward's subconscious had leaked into Edmund's mind? Was there some chance that Edward's memories now belonged to Edmund? If there was, did Edward now have control over Edmund's thoughts?

Edmund heard an almost inaudible intake of breath. "So, you're telling me that Edward's not in his right mind? Is that all?" There was something odd about that voice; it sounded almost as if the man was afraid or worried, but was trying to cover it up. Edmund decided not to worry too much about it for the time being. After all, there was still the matter of finding his way back home, not to mention going back to Narnia and… Well, he would deal with Narnia when the time came.

He moaned slightly as he forced his eyes open, blinking groggily as light flooded his vision. Two figures hovered over him: the armor he now knew as Al, and the other, he supposed, was the owner of that voice. The one that was familiar, but not familiar. "Where am I again?" Edmund asked, his voice slightly scratchy.

The other person-- a dark-haired, dark-eyed man who looked to be about fifteen years older than Edward-- turned to Al. "You're serious about this, aren't you?"

Al only nodded before turning to Edmund. "Edmund, this is Colonel Roy Mustang," he said, gesturing to the man standing beside him. The colonel's eyes bored holes into him, and Edmund imagined that he could see sadness in the man's obsidian depths. But that sadness was quickly erased as Al continued, "Colonel Mustang, this is Edmund Pevensie. He's… not from here."

Edmund snorted. "You can say that again."

Mustang sighed, somewhat frustrated. "Tell me everything that happened, Alphonse. Don't leave anything out."

------

_Dammit, it's _freezing_ out here. And do we have to go so fast?_ Edward was sitting on the floor of Jadis' sleigh, huddling into a tiny (but not _that_ tiny, dammit) ball to try to conserve heat. After telling Jadis where the criminals were heading, Edward had been dragged roughly to his feet and outside to the sleigh. At the entrance on the castle, Edward had paused, staring unbelievingly at something that should have been impossible.

Tumnus had been turned to stone.

And Edmund had caused it.

And because he was Edmund, in a way, it was his fault, too.

He hugged his knees closer to his chest, sending one of his best glares at Jadis. What was her problem, anyway? He already told her what the fugitives were intending to do. She should have let him go by now. Unless… unless she was planning to use him as a pawn in some crazy scheme. _Damn, _Edward swore. _I'm nobody's puppet!_

_You don't have much of a choice at this point, _remarked a slightly smug voice that reminded him annoyingly of Mustang.

_Screw you! I won't let her use me. I don't know what she's planning, but I've seen enough villains to be able to spot them from a hundred miles away._

_You can't use alchemy here, or have you forgotten?_

Edward glared out at the frozen countryside rolling by him. _I hate this damn place. I want to go home. Back to Al and…_

_And who? _the voice asked.

_And no one, _Edward told him bitterly. _Stupid Mustang probably hasn't even noticed that I'm not really there anymore._

_Aye, there's the rub. But what if he has noticed?_

Edward closed his now deep brown eyes and rested his head on his knees. _Screw you._

------

**A/N: **BOW DOWN TO MY SHAKESPEARE REFERENCE, ALL OF YOU! (ahem) Kinda short chapter, I know. I, by the way, finally figured out the reason for the title of "A Separate Peace", a book I had to read for English class a few moths ago. I feel so proud of myself. And Edward looks so adorable with cat ears!

**Edward: **What the hell-- What is wrong with you!

**A/N: **Many things, Edward. Many things.

**Edward: **(sarcastically) No, really?

**A/N: **Before I leave, I wanted to say that the line up there near the top about Edward's trademark grin hiding the pain of his sins was partially inspired by a new song written by Vic Mignogna (Ed's VA, in case you didn't know) called "Nothing I Won't Give". If you look under his bio on www . risemboolrangers . com, there is a link down at the bottom of the page to go listen to it. DO IT.


	6. Dreams

**A/N: **Alrighty… another chapter. I'm sorry the last chapter was kinda filler-stuffs, but I'm trying to figure out how to tie in the pathetic excuse for a plot I have with the scenes I want to do…

**Artemis: **And you're lazy, don't forget that.

**A/N: **Yeah, that too.

**Disclaimer: **Wherefore art thou still nagging me? Thou knowst well that Fullmetal be not in my possession. STOP NAGGING ME, OR THY HEAD WILL ROLL. (smiles brightly) Have a nice day!

_**Chapter Five: Dreams**_

Mustang sighed, somewhat frustrated. "Tell me everything that happened, Alphonse. Don't leave anything out."

"Brother and I were chasing the Azure down in the warehouse," Al recalled. "I had found a small room and when Brother walked inside, he found a transmutation circle carved into each wall."

"Transmutation circles?" Mustang's eyes narrowed. "Did you notice anything odd about them?"

_…A what? _Edmund wondered. _What are they talking about? I wonder if it has anything to do with Edward and…Mustang… _He liked to think of himself as completely accepting of everything, but it was very different when you woke up in a new body only to find out, a little while later, that the person you looked exactly like was, well, in love with another man fifteen years older than him…

Al pondered for a moment before answering. "The design itself was unlike anything either of us had ever seen before," he said. "It was… more complex."

"'Complex' how?"

The armored soul paused before asking, "You saw the array in Lab Five before it was destroyed, right?" At Mustang's nod, he continued, "The array the Homunculi had drawn used an octagon-based array. The one we used four years ago was hexagonally-based. But the ones Azure had carved into the walls used decagons."

"There were more points for energy to gather," Roy murmured. His brow furrowed in thought as he began to pace slowly. "What was he using that much energy for?"

"Soul transfer, most likely," Al replied. "Azure activated the arrays while Brother was touching one of them--"

Roy stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait, you're telling me Fullmetal actually _touched _one of the arrays? _Without_ making sure that the one person who knew how to work the _highly dangerous _transmutation wasn't standing right behind him?"

"Actually, Azure was hiding in the rafters above us," the boy pointed out.

The Flame Alchemist let out a frustrated groan. "Dammit, Edward! Don't you ever _think_?" He started to pace a little faster than before.

"In any case," Al continued, "once Azure had activated the transmutation, Brother passed out, but he woke up a few moments later. At least, I thought it was him."

Mustang turned to Edmund. "And that's when you come in, right?"

Edmund, who had been looking back and forth between the other two occupants of the room similar to the way one watches a tennis ball being hit over a net (and becoming mightily confused in the process), started slightly. "What? Erm, yeah. I woke up and saw Al yelling at this very strange bloke who looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks. But, uh… could someone please explain what you're talking about?"

Roy glanced at Al. "You didn't tell him?"

"Well, no," Al admitted. "I wanted to wait until we met with you to tell him."

The Pevensie boy grew more than a little suspicious. "Tell me what?"

"It's sort of difficult to explain, especially to someone who doesn't know much about it…"

"What's difficult?" Edmund asked, aware of an uncomfortable blush creeping onto his features.

Al looked to Mustang. "Can you tell him? You'd be better at explaining it, you've had more experience."

The Londoner couldn't help but feel extremely uneasy. _What's going on here? I know Al already told me about Edward, but do they want to… _explain_ the whole thing to me? _His face heated a bit more as he had thoughts of sitting through another Talk. He had already been told the "when-a-mummy-and-daddy-love-each-other-very-much" Talk, and that had been embarrassing enough… but what about the "when-a-man-loves-another-man" Talk? From _complete strangers_?

"Of course, Alphonse," Roy said. Turning to a quite embarrassed Edmund, he began, "You see, Edmund… Edward and I, as well as Alphonse--"

_I KNEW it! _Edmund let out a strangled cry as he scrambled over the back of the sofa, clapping his hands over his ears as he crouched behind it. "Stop! I don't want to know! Al already told me about Edward! I don't want to hear about you and Edward!"

Mustang quirked an eyebrow at Alphonse in an odd mixture of annoyance and amusement. "What _exactly_ did you tell him, Al?"

Suddenly, Edmund gasped, freezing in his place. "Edward!"

------

_Edward let out a strangled cry as he scrambled over the back of the sofa, clapping his hands over his ears as he crouched behind it. "Stop! I don't want to know! Al already told me about Edward! I don't want to hear about you and Edward!"_

_Well, that was odd._

_Why was he talking about himself in the third person?_

_He heard Mustang's voice cut through to him like a knife. "What _exactly_ did you tell him, Al?" he asked the younger Elric._

Yes, Al, what _exactly _did you say? _Edward thought. He felt somewhat confused when he inhaled sharply against his will; he heard a voice from inside-- as well as outside-- his mind say, "Edward!"_

_Al and Mustang instantly rushed to his side. "Edmund?" Mustang barked. "What's wrong?"_

_Oh, that's right. Edward's soul was inside Edmund's body, and Edmund's was inside his. So why could he see Al and Mustang as if he were right beside them?_

_"I don't know," he said. "I just heard Edward's voice in my head."_

_"How, though?" Al asked. "He's back in your world!"_

_"Well, either Edmund here is schizophrenic," Roy said, "or they have some kind of a mental link."_

Right in one! _Edward declared. _Give the dog of the military a bone!

_"What?" Edmund asked._

_"Did you not just hear me?" Mustang deadpanned._

_"No, not you. Edward." _Maybe I can talk to him through thought, _Edmund supposed. _Can you hear me, Edward?

Loud and clear, kid. Tell Mustang he's right about the mental link.

_"Edward says you're right about the mental link, Mustang."_

Good. Now… what exactly did Al tell you about me?

Um, he told me that you were… in love… with Mustang, _Edmund admitted._

_Edward was silent for a frightening moment before saying, _Repeat these exact words: "Alphonse, my dear younger brother… we need to have a little _talk_ when I get back home. And then you're dead for telling Edmund what you told him. Love, Edward." _Edmund couldn't help but notice how eerie the blonde sounded when he was so angry he was calm. _

_"Edward also says, 'Alphonse, my dear younger brother… we need to have a little _talk_ when I get back home. And then you're dead for telling Edmund what you told him. Love, Edward.'"_

_Al chuckled nervously. "Sure thing, Brother. And don't worry about us. We'll find a way to bring you back home."_

_Edward smiled. _Edmund, can you tell them that--

A sharp jab to the ribs woke Edward. Ginarrbrik, Jadis' dwarf servant, stood over him. The first thing Edward noticed was the wonderful lack of biting winter winds. _We must have stopped, _he thought.

"Get up, boy," Ginarrbrik snarled. "Her Majesty wishes to show you something."

Glancing warily at the dwarf, Edward stood, stretching his aching limbs and walking when Ginarrbrik prodded him with the butt of his whip.

Jadis stood amongst a group of stone statues, all of which were animals of some kind. A fox, a couple of badgers, mice. It almost looked like they were frightened of something.

"This, boy," Jadis spat once Edward reached her, "is what happens to those who disobey me. If you have lied to me about the whereabouts of your family…" She pointed the wickedly sharp end of her scepter at his throat. "You will share their fate."

It was not the threat that froze Edward to his core… it was the words she said.

_Family?_

------

_Edmund, can you tell them that--_

_…Edward?_

The older Elric did not respond.

_Edward? _His eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"What's wrong?" Al asked, seeing the boy's worried expression.

"I can't… can't hear him anymore," Edmund said. "It's like he just vanished or something."

Just then, Havoc burst into the room, not bothering to knock on the door. "Colonel!"

"What is it this time, Havoc? Did Fuery actually manage to steal your girlfriend?"

"No, sir," Havoc told him. "It's the Azure Alchemist. He's been spotted again."

------

**A/N: **I think that's good for now.

**Artemis: **You realize that you're going to have to rewrite that other scene you've already typed up, don't you?

**A/N: **It's worth it, Artemis-chan. It's worth it. I think it's more interesting this way. And as a side note, I thought of something random while I was typing up the part about the transmutation circles: most arrays seem to have some sort of polygon in the center, right? So, what if the corners of the polygon were points at which energy accumulated, thus helping to drive the reaction? In that case, a transmutation circle with a decagon (which has ten sides, by the way) would garner more energy than a hexagonal array. And you can't transmute something (or someone) unless it's touching the array. So there. (And I feel as if I'm making them go OOC… am I? Will somebody volunteer to be an OOC scout for me?)


	7. Not a Soul

**A/N:** Before you try to kill me for not updating in so long, I just wanna say that I've been immensely busy with fixing up my house and then actually moving. Besides, I needed a little break from writing. My brain kinda died near the end of he school year.

**Artemis:** You're still a loserface.

**A/N:** …Shut up.

_I would like to thank **MintPizzaQueen** for being my beta/angstometer. _

**Disclaimer:** Nee-san's boyfriend has a katana. I can ask to borrow it if you keep bugging me about whether or not I own Fullmetal Alchemist. 'Cause I DON'T.

_Chapter Six: Not a Soul_

_It's not fair._

_Why was he taken? Why was it him?_

_Why couldn't I have sent someone else to find the renegade?_

_What have I done?_

What if we can't bring him back?

_I promised Maes that I would look after them. Now look what I've done. I've failed them._

_I've failed _him

_It doesn't feel right. Having this imposter next to me. It still looks like him, but it's not._

_It… _hurts

_This boy looks at me like I'm some kind of hero for being in the military. Doesn't he know what we dogs are forced to do? Doesn't he know about my sins? About the innocent people I've been forced to kill?_

He_ knows. He knows because he's sinned, too. I look into his eyes and see the suffering he's seen. The suffering he's been through. Going through._

_And part of it's my fault._

_But that… that's not him. Not this boy who looks like him. He's still innocent. Child-like. It shows in those eyes. Those damnable eyes that aren't his._

_Does it mean something? _He_ knows so much about me without having to be told. Does that make him special?_

_I don't understand it. None of it makes sense to me. But…_

_But…_

------

"I don't know what you're talking about," Edward lied.

The corners of Jadis' mouth turned up. "It's a little late for that now, don't you think? You agreed to bring your family to me on our very first meeting, remember?"

Edward's hands curled into fists. _Dammit_, he swore internally. _Now what?_

_Look around, idiot. What can you use to your advantage?_ another voice—the one that reminded him of Mustang—asked him.

_I don't know! We're in a friggin' forest! Whoopdie flippin' do!_

_Exactly._

Edward slapped himself mentally. _I'm an idiot._

_Well—_

_DON'T SAY IT._

_I wasn't going to say anything,_ the voice replied cheekily.

"You're a fool if you think you can control me," Edward told Jadis almost nonchalantly.

The ice queen's mouth grew into a grim line as her features turned hard and menacing. "What was that, boy?" she demanded, resting the sharp tip of her scepter on the artery in his neck.

"I said, you're a fool, Your Majesty," Edward spat, his words oozing sarcasm.

Jadis' lip curled as she very early growled. "And you, my dear, are a fool for thinking that I would have you rule Narnia."

The Fullmetal grinned mirthlessly. "Maybe."

Just then, a haunting wolf's cry pierced the air. Turning her head towards it, Jadis muttered, "Maugrim. He must have found the traitor."

Edward shifted his gaze down to her scepter; he couldn't help but notice that its tip was slowly inching away from him…

Making a snap decision that was most likely going to get him into trouble, he whipped out his hand and wrenched the scepter from Jadis' grasp, throwing it off to the side and narrowly missing Ginarrbrik. The alchemist swiftly dropped down into a crouch and swung his leg out in a low-sweeping kick that knocked Jadis' feet out from under her (which was no easy task, considering her large, marshmallow-like gown).

A cry was torn from Ginarrbrik's lips as he rushed forward to his queen's aid. He cracked his whip at Edward in an attempt to catch him around the throat, but the blonde raised his arm just in time to have it wrap around his forearm instead. Edward pulled on the whip with all his might, dragging the dwarf towards him. As Ginarrbrik stumbled forward, his foot caught on a tree root, causing him to fall and smash his head on a protruding rock, knocking him out cold.

As Edward unraveled the leather whip from his arm, Jadis shouted, "Maugrim! Come to me!" Not wanting to stick around long enough to meet this "Maugrim", whoever he was, Edward turned and ran, the adrenaline in his system enough to make an elephant wired.

Within minutes, Jadis found herself surrounded by wolves. Finished with brushing the snow off of herself, she turned to the pack leader. "The boy has escaped. Smell him out and bring him to me," she commanded.

Maugrim bent his front limbs in a sort of canine bow before howling once more. Then he began to follow Edward's scent with the rest of his pack close behind.

-

He was glad for the heavy snowfall. Really. It covered his footprints quite nicely. And, in the event that the marshmallow-freak had sent dogs after him, it would most likely help cover his scent as well.

It was just cold. And wet.

And the fact that Edward was dressed for summer instead of winter didn't help much, either.

_Hey. You. Remind me why I'm doing this again._

The Mustang-esque voice sighed exasperatedly. _Because we're in a forest and it's hard to navigate a sleigh around a bunch of trees._

_Right. _A pause. _…And now I can't see three feet in front of my face. _

Another sigh. _Just keep moving._

_Do you even know where I'm going?_

_We'll find out when we get there._

_…I hate you._

_That's nice. Keep moving._

As the cold wetness of melted snow seeped into his already freezing clothes, Edward found himself fervently wishing he still had his automail. Two less limbs that would've gotten frostbite.

The adrenaline had long since worn off. He was left cold, wet, and miserable. When he had the chance, he was going to have a nice long talk with Edmund about wearing summer clothes on a trip to a place where the snow was above one's ankles. Drearily, Edward thought back to the mission briefing that had gotten him into this mess.

It had been like almost any other day.

_He had been summoned to Mustang's office for his next briefing. _Probably a hunt for another crazy alchemist,_ he thought. "You coming, Al?"_

_"Ah, no, that's all right, Brother," Al told him. "I'll just stay here."_

_"You sure?"_

_"I'll be fine. Besides, I promised Winry that I'd write to her every now and then."_

_Edward smirked, knowing of his brother's crush on their childhood friend, but said nothing of it. "I'll be back later, then."_

_Al waited until Edward had closed the door before racing to the phone and dialing the number for Havoc's desk. "Lieutenant? Brother's on his way to the colonel's office. You might want to have everyone get their money ready now. Call me as soon as Brother leaves, okay?" He placed the phone back onto its cradle, wondering how mad the older Elric would be when he found out that he had placed bets along with the rest of Mustang's subordinates._

_As was his custom, Edward barged into his commanding officer's office, letting the slammed door announce his presence rather than using tentative knocks. He flopped down onto one of the black leather sofas. "What'cha got for me this time, old man?" he asked, trying his damnedest to play it cool despite the rapid beating of his blasted heart._

_Mustang's eyes narrowed slightly at the insult, but he let it slide. For now. "A new mission, Fullmetal," he said, sliding a manila file across his desk._

_"For me? You shouldn't have." Edward reached across to Mustang's desk and grabbed the file. Opening it, he quickly scanned the first page. "'Azure Alchemist'," he read aloud, taking note of the State Alchemist's appearance. His strawberry blonde hair was neatly trimmed around his noble features. He looked like a wealthy businessman, not a human weapon that could be used by the State. "What kind of research was he doing?"_

_Mustang waited a moment before answering, as if trying to decide what exactly to say. "The State isn't sure anymore. He started out with biological alchemy, much like Shou Tucker." He watched as Edward stiffened almost imperceptibly. Mustang remembered quite well finding a small boy out in the rain uselessly clapping his hands and touching them to a bloodstain on the wall in front of him. He remembered looking into young eyes and seeing nothing._

_It was those empty eyes that still haunted his nightmares. _

_"Not long after he was accepted as a State Alchemist," Mustang said, standing and walking to the window, "he began to disobey the State. He refused to follow orders, and it was suspected that he was somehow embezzling money from the government. When court marshaled, he said only that he needed more funds for his research._

_"He was eventually put in jail, but he has recently escaped. We think that he had help from an accomplice posing as one of his guards."_

_"So you want me to find him."_

_Mustang nodded. "Naturally. I'm sure you'll be thrilled to hear that you're one of our best trackers."_

_Edward settled for quirking an eyebrow instead of grinning like an idiot and running around telling everyone that Mustang had just complimented him. "Was that a compliment?"_

_"Although, I'm not exactly sure how you can see much of anything."_

_The twitch above the Fullmetal's left eye was only the barest of warnings. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT HE COULD BUILD A MANSION IN THE SPACE BETWEEN TWO ATOMS!"_

_"In any case, Fullmetal," the Flame Colonel continued-- indeed, as if nothing had happened--, "I need you to find Azure and bring him back to Central, preferably in one piece."_

_Edward, slightly miffed at the colonel's jab at his (lack of) height, huffed, "Fine. When do we leave?"_

_"At seventeen hundred hours you and Alphonse will board a train heading for a small town called Fern Prairie, the last place Azure was seen. There will be an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the town; I want you to search there." He smirked. "I've heard that Azure is rather fond of warehouses."_

_The blonde rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Typical bad guy. I'd like to see some originality from these people every now and then." He stood and saluted Mustang before turning and making his way towards the door, but he was stopped when the older man spoke his name._

_"Edward," Mustang said. "Be careful."_

_The Fullmetal thought this behavior strange, but chose not to comment on it. "Aren't I always?" he asked, flippantly disregarding his CO's warning._

_"I mean it, Edward," he persisted. Mustang crossed the room and lifted Edward's chin, forcing their gazes to meet. "Be careful."_

_Edward lost himself for a moment in Mustang's eyes; they burned intensely with the color of a dark secret. "All right," he acquiesced softly. "I will."_

_"Good." _

_"You _do_ know you're still holding my chin, right?" _Not that I mind all that much, _he thought._

_Almost embarrassedly (although that was impossible; Edward was standing in front of _Roy Mustang_, for crying out loud), Mustang released his hold on Edward and cleared his throat. "Right. I expect your report three days after your return."_

_"Some things never change," the teen replied quietly. He swung the door open and walked through, closing it behind him. Leaning his back against the mahogany wood, he exhaled slowly, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he began the trek down to his dorm, not noticing the fact that Havoc had picked up the phone on his desk._

_And for reasons he couldn't explain, the journey seemed much longer than it really was._

-

_"WHAT? Nothing happened? Are you sure…you are? Wait, here he comes now!" Al slammed the phone down just as his older brother opened the door._

_"C'mon Al," he said. "Let's pack our stuff. We're heading out."_

Edward looked up sluggishly. _That's the problem with the cold_, he thought_. It makes me weak._ In front of him was the tree he had just run into. Sighing wearily, he reached up his arms and pulled himself onto a lower branch. He climbed, one limb at a time, until he was about halfway up the trunk. Spotting a thick branch, he sat down with a leg hanging off of either side. He crossed his arms, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

------

_No one can ever know what I almost did that day._

_Not a soul._

------

**A/N:** Yay! I did it! I finished another chapter. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I did leave a couple of details that are going to be rather important. If you can spot them, I'll give you a cookie. I'll also give you a cookie if you can tell me whose two lines closed out this chapter. And I know Mustang went a little OOC towards the end there, but that scene (and my muse) wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. See you next time!


	8. I Can't

**A/N:** It's been far too long, friends. Far too long.

**Disclaimer: **I WANT THE MOVIE. LIKE, N— oh, wait, I already bought it. Heh. But I still don't own Fullmetal.

_Much love to **Mint Pizza Queen**, my beta. :)_

_**Chapter Seven: I Can't**_

_I want to hate you so much… but I can't. No matter how many times I tell myself that you're just a manipulative slime ball, a womanizing egomaniac, and a dog that uses the military for his own selfish gains, I just... I can't hate you. I want to more than I can say, but I can't…._

_I can't hate you, you bastard. I know that you're more than just that smirking facade you put up... you're more than that. I know that you're looking out for Al and me... keeping our search a secret and making sure we stay safe... and basically letting me off my leash. I know the reason that you're trying to make your way to the top is because you really want a better world for everyone. Damn it, I know you're a good person, but… sometimes, I don't want to believe it._

_You bastard. You're making it really hard for me not to..._

_Every time I think of you I just... I _burn_. You burn me deeper than your namesake element ever could. Is that the true reason for your second name? The things you can do to people with a mere glance?_

_I wouldn't doubt it._

_Probably the reason why so many women fall into your bed... Not that that... bothers me or anything... Right? Ugh, you make it hard to think, you ass! I can't sort out these stupid feelings I have for you and I hate you for that!_

_But I don't. Not really._

_However, no matter what I might think of you... no matter what I might _feel _towards you... if anything happens to Alphonse under your watch, I will kill you._

_No matter what._

------

Havoc burst into the room, not bothering to knock on the door. "Colonel!"

"What is it this time, Havoc? Did Fuery actually manage to steal your girlfriend?" Mustang smirked.

"No, sir," Havoc told him. "It's the Azure Alchemist. He's been spotted again."

Mustang opened his mouth to speak, but it was another voice that demanded, "Take me to him."

Havoc almost dropped his cigarette. "Alphonse?" He had never heard the boy sound so demanding in the few years that he had known him.

The colonel looked over at the boy, meeting his gaze over Edmund's head. He knew exactly what the boy was thinking. _The sooner we get my brother back, the better._ He nodded almost imperceptibly, then turned to the lieutenant. "Gather up my men," he ordered. "Take as many cars as you need. Alphonse and E— Fullmetal will ride with me."

The blonde lieutenant gathered his wits then, snapping a sharp salute in Mustang's direction before running off to fulfill his orders.

_It can't be this easy_, Roy thought. _Ed's soul is transferred into another person's body and the alchemist that did it just shows up? There's no way this'll all be that easy. There's always some sort of catch._

------

Roy knew something was off the moment he pulled up behind the other cars. Stepping out of his vehicle, he shouldered his way through the small crowd of soldiers gathered around until he saw what they were all staring at.

It was a corpse under a blanket.

Frowning slightly as Edmund and Alphonse stopped just behind him, he looked at Lieutenant Hawkeye and demanded, "What is the meaning of this? Where's Azure?"

Casting a small, disapproving glance in Havoc's direction, Hawkeye answered, "I'm afraid Havoc had misunderstood the intelligence he had received, sir. The Azure Alchemist was not spotted…" Her eyes traveled to the covered-up corpse. "He was found."

Roy's eyes widened fractionally as he followed her eyes…and understood. "You mean…"

Hawkeye hesitated before nodding. "He's been killed, sir."

The Flame was taken aback as he felt his stomach drop out. _That can't be right_, he thought, not wanting to believe it. _That man… he was Ed's only chance of coming home. I don't know anything about soul transfers._ He looked over at Alphonse, whose thoughts undoubtedly matched his own.

"Show me," Alphonse suddenly commanded, voice as steely as the armor his soul was trapped inside.

Curious, Mustang nodded his consent, and Hawkeye moved to uncover the body. Roy touched his fingertips to Al's arm and felt that the boy was shaking slightly. His eyes searched the armor for any sort of clue that would reveal the boy's thoughts to him, but no such luck was to be found. Instead, he watched as Alphonse's gaze alighted upon the corpse of the Azure Alchemist.

The man's strawberry-blonde hair had grown out longer than it was in the picture in his file, but it did nothing to take away from his noble looks. Were he still alive, one might think it a shame that he had turned to crime. Such a handsome man…

His face was covered in bruises, as if from a fight. Glancing down towards the man's chest, Roy saw that it was full of knife wounds. The man had not been simply stabbed and left to die, he had been turned into a human pincushion, and his frozen-open eyes showed only a glimpse of the pain he must have felt. Roy could count at least thirty stab wounds in Azure's shirt.

He felt Alphonse sag and cease trembling, shifting closer to him. "That's not him," Al whispered to him. "That's not the man that did this to Brother."

"What?" The State Alchemist tore his eyes away from the dead man. "What are you talking about?"

"That's not him," Al repeated firmly. "The one that caused us this trouble looked nothing like him."

Roy's eyes narrowed, his mind going a hundred miles a minute. The Azure himself was lying dead before them, yet the younger Elric claimed that this was not the man who had transferred Edward's soul across the portal to Edmund's world. The colonel was not sure what the hell was going on, but—he swore to whatever god that might exist—he would find out.

"Sir?" Hawkeye's tentative voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Your orders?"

"Tell Investigations to examine this body thoroughly; they are to send me the results of the autopsy as soon as humanly possible, or I can guarantee that heads will roll. I want there to be no mistakes. I don't want to have to explain to the higher ups that we screwed up if this turns out to be a look-alike. I want this case closed." He turned to Alphonse. "Let's go." Glancing over at Edmund, who was standing still as a rock with his eyes glued to the dead man, he added in a murmur, "He doesn't need to see this." Alphonse nodded in agreement, then touched Edmund gently on the shoulder, pulling him away from the corpse.

There were just some things an innocent didn't need to see.

------

Deciding that Edmund had had enough excitement for one day, Mustang drove by the dorms to drop them both off for the night. He knew what seeing something like that could do to someone so young… it would no doubt haunt him for the rest of his life. He knew that he shouldn't have taken the boy with him, but it would have seemed suspicious if the body of the man Edward was hunting turned up and the Fullmetal was not there to at least verify his identity.

That didn't make him feel any less guilty.

He signaled to Alphonse to go on without Edmund; he wanted to talk with him a minute before leaving him to his own devices.

Waiting until Alphonse had entered the dorms, Mustang slid out of his side of the car; he walked around the front to open Edmund's door. "Edmund?" he asked hesitantly. "Are you coming?"

Edmund was silent, his now golden eyes staring straight forward, not really seeing anything. _Just like the eyes of a dead man…_

"Edmund," Roy began uncertainly, "I wanted to apologize for dragging you to see that. You see, Edward's rather special. He works for us, and that man just so happened to be the one he was tracking down, and…" He let his voice trail off as he realized that his apologies and excuses were falling upon deaf ears. He sighed. "Edmund…"

However, the boy refused to look at him as he slid out of the car. Brows drawing together in concern, Roy placed a hand on his shoulder and felt him tremble. "It's scary, I know," he said softly, "but it can't be helped. You didn't have any choice in coming here to our world, and it's not fair. But please understand that I need you to act as Edward would, and that includes seeing things like today. You might not always like it, but we all have to do our parts if we're going to get you back home."

Edmund shrugged off the hand on his shoulder in favor of latching his arms around Mustang's middle, shaking all the while. "I want to go home," he whispered.

"I know," Roy said, stroking his hair.

------

As soon as Edward had fallen asleep, he heard Roy talking to him. Or rather, the one pretending to be him. "It's scary, I know, but it can't be helped," he was saying. The man had never been that soft with him, had never spoken that kindly. It had always been hard and demanding. What right did Edmund have to just waltz right in and play the victim so that Mustang would basically coddle him?

No, that wasn't right. Edmund had nothing to do with his coming here. If he wanted, he could probably blame Edward for all of it, him being idiotic enough to go touch the array in that warehouse. But that still didn't take away the fact that it was Roy speaking to _him_ like that, the one who wore his face. It was possible for the man to look at Edward (in any incarnation) and speak that way. How dare he wait until he wasn't even in the same world as him to start!

It hurt.

But the image of the bastard soon disappeared and was replaced by a warm, golden light. He was standing in the middle of a grassy plain, and it was afternoon. Strangely, he felt that he was floating a little, supported by the light. A voice spoke to him, then, one that he didn't hear so much as _feel_. _Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist,_ it said, filled with beauty and terror unimaginable. _I welcome you to Narnia._

_Who are you?_ Edward demanded, trying to turn to see who had spoken; but as he turned, the light shifted, staying behind him. _How do you know who I am?_

_All will be answered in good time, Fullmetal._

The blonde snorted. _Right. You sound like Mustang. "I'll tell you when you're good and ready to hear, Fullmetal." Bah._

_The Flame looks after you in his own way, _the voice chastised gently._ Without his guidance, you would not be where you are today._

_If it weren't for him sending on that mission to find Azur, I wouldn't be here in this damn place! I would be home with my brother right now if it weren't for him!_

_You cannot change the past, Fullmetal, as you well know._

Edward's posture slumped, defeated, when he heard those words. _I know that, _he said. _I know that more than anyone else._

A feeling of kindness and empathy flowed into him, the voice's way of comforting him, he supposed. _As it is now, you are here, and there is not much you can do to find your way back home. You must have faith in both your brother and the Flame. They will find a way home for you, but you must believe in them._

_I do, _Edward whispered. _I know that Mustang will help, but he's only doing it to save one of his dogs. That's all I am to him, I know it. He needs me, yes, but it's only for promotions. If I continue to do good in the name of the State, it'll look good on him for being the one to recruit me. That's why he's helping._

_Do not be hasty to speak so lowly of him, _the voice told him. _You do not have access to his thoughts, and the purpose of his actions may be deeper than you know._

Fullmetal sighed, mulling over the words in his mind. _That may be, _he said eventually, _but all I care about is going home. I don't care why he's helping, just as long as he is. That's all that matters._ His tone seemed slightly bitter as he spoke the last sentence.

_Have faith in him. He will come through. For now, though, Edmund's family needs you. You are the only that can help them. Find the Pevensies, Fullmetal. That is your mission…_

Edward awoke only a couple of hours after falling asleep, but he found that the little bit of sleep helped. He was already much more alert than he had been. Although, the dream he had was a bit odd…

He stretched and yawned, rolling his shoulders to get the kinks out. Looking around, he saw that it had snowed at least another six inches in the time that he was asleep. As much as he hated the stuff, it would do wonders in covering up his scent. He sighed, knowing that it would be best to keep moving; it wasn't going to be easy, but it needed to happen, especially if he didn't want to be caught. To be captured again was to fail, he knew that much. Edward wasn't exactly sure how much he could trust the voice that had spoken to him in his dream, but it was most likely in his best interest to find Edmund's family. Maybe they would have some idea of what to do.

Deciding that it was time to head out again, he swung his left leg to the other side of the branch and slowly slid down onto another just below the one he had slept on. His foot slipped then, misstep caused by excess snow that was still loose, and he tumbled to the ground, landing on his back. Edward lay in the snow, eyes held firmly shut, taking inventory of all hurting limbs. His arms and legs were cold, but functional. It was his back that would probably give him the most trouble later on, but he had to _move_ if he wanted to stay on the run.

Oddly enough, he suddenly felt a warm breath hit his face. His eyes shot open to see a wolf standing directly over him. Swallowing hard, he casually glanced around, trying not to spook the dog right next to his head. All around him stood an entire pack of wolves, standing still as a rock. It was almost as if they were waiting for some sort of command…

Very slowly, Edward began to push himself up into a sitting position. "Take it easy, now," he said calmly. "I won't hurt you."

The wolf next to him snorted. "Of course you won't, not if you want to live to see tomorrow. Go alert Her Majesty and inform her that we have found the boy.

As two wolves barked as one before running off, Edward couldn't help but think to himself, _…Shit…_

* * *

**A/N: **MUCH love goes out to Lina of BMF for this one, who helped me immensely with the opening monologue for this chapter. I had one, but it was kinda random, so she spiffed it up and and turned it into the lovely thing at the top of the page instead of the crap I had written. She also confirmed my suspicions that the last bit needed to be done, which is freakin' awesome. And more love to my beta, who had to sift through the rewritten bit twice. (sweatdrop) 


	9. Nightmares

**A/N: **Please, PLEASE, do not kill me for not updating in so long. Life has exploded lately, so I haven't had much time. TTTT I am SO sorry for not updating sooner.

**This chapter (and pretty much the entirety of this story) is dedicated to Lina for all of her help and support, and I don't think that SSDS would be half as good as it is without her. (glompcling)**

**Also, dear Lina was my beta for this chapter, so thank you. :heart:**

_**Chapter Eight: Nightmares**_

Brother, I really wish you were here to see all this… Well, you might be able to, if you used that trick you pulled in the colonel's office. Whatever that was.

_I've never seen him like this before. When I told him that Edmund had taken your place, he got this sad, pained look in his eyes that only lasted a second, but it was still there. You know how uptight he is. To get him to express anything is nothing short of a miracle, and you managed to do it, Brother, even when you weren't right there in front of him. Well, you sort of were… never mind…_

_But then we were called out to look at this man's corpse, because they said he was Azure, and Colonel Mustang saw the body and almost looked like he wanted to throw up. Not because it was a corpse, but because if that really was Azure, then we wouldn't be able to get you back, at least not so soon, anyway._

_And he kept looking at Edmund in the car, but I could tell, Brother, I could _tell_ that he wasn't seeing Edmund. In his mind, he was seeing you, and I could really tell that he doesn't like seeing you when you're unhappy or in pain about something. Normally he's so withdrawn and calm and collected, but there seems to be something about you that makes his barriers lower, if only just a bit._

_If you ask me, Brother, I think there's something he's not telling you…_

------

The younger Elric, not needing to sleep, watched as the Pevensie boy tossed and turned in Edward's bunk. After seeing the corpse of the supposed Azure Alchemist earlier that day, Edmund had simply shut down. He hadn't said anything to anyone, he simply laid down on Edward's bed and stared out the window. Judging from the way his chest had moved when he breathed, it had taken him quite a while to fall asleep, but it was a troubled sleep. The boy was undoubtedly having nightmares. Of what, Alphonse didn't know, nor did he wish to find out. It was none of his business, he reasoned, but if the boy needed to talk, he would listen.

As he did whenever Edward's nightmares became too much, he gently laid an armored hand on Edmund's shoulder and called his name softly, then louder when there was no response. When Edmund blearily opened his eyes, taking a moment to focus on Al, he asked him, "Are you okay?"

The boy lifted up his right hand as if to rub his eyes, but remembered that it was automail and lifted his left hand instead, wearily rubbing his face. "What? Yeah. Just a bloody dream," he muttered before rolling over and showing his back to Alphonse.

If he could have done so, Al would've narrowed his eyes a bit before rolling them. But if Edmund was anything like his brother, pushing him would only prove disastrous, so Alphonse left it at that and went to sit back in his chair at the little desk in the corner of the room. It wasn't long, though, before the young Elric heard a sigh and a mumbled, "…I had a nightmare."

"I kinda figured you did," Al said. Being Edward's brother made him very familiar with the signs.

"It was… really strange," Edmund admitted, still facing the wall. "I really don't know where it came from… I was kneeling next to this kid in front of this… thing. I don't quite know what it was, but it looked like a circle with a bunch of lines and gibberish written on the inside. We both cut our fingers for some reason and then touched the circle… it gets a bit wonky from there. I can't remember all of it, but my leg disappeared and something happened to my arm as… well…" His voice died, and Alphonse had no doubt that the boy was putting two and two together.

Edmund sat up then, turning to look at Al. "Alphonse," he began slowly, "what happened? Why does Edward have these limbs? Why don't you ever take off that armor?"

If Al had said that those questions didn't sound odd when asked in his brother's voice, he'd be lying. It was _very_ strange, and if he were to be completely honest (which he normally was), it _hurt_. He knew that Edward wasn't there, he knew, but hearing his older brother's voice so confused about the circumstances that had made them closer than they had ever been was painful. It just wasn't right. Edmund's questions had been a slap in the face with a wet rag, a blatant reminder that his brother was _gone._

The armor sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you, not after what you saw today," he suggested gently.

Edmund hesitated visibly, but shook his head and said only, "I want to know."

So Al told him. He told him everything beginning from when their father left and their mother became sick. When he reached the point of the transmutation, he lifted his helmet to show Edmund that he had no body. Edmund gaped, looking as though he wanted to crawl under a rock and hide there.

That look almost broke the boy right then and there. Alphonse was used to people staring at him and had received many horrified looks. Being an empty suit of armor wasn't exactly something that was readily accepted, and he understood that, but… he never thought he'd be given that look from his _brother_.

_No. No, no, _no_. That's not Brother_, Al reminded himself. _Even though it's still him on the outside, that's Edmund in there. Brother would never look at me like that. _He remembered the way that Colonel Mustang had looked at Edmund in the car when he thought Al wasn't looking, that devastatingly pained look that spoke volumes in Al's mind. _Maybe I'm not the only one having trouble with this, _he supposed.

Al hunched over at his desk with his hands in his lap, immensely aware of Edmund's eyes on him and the heavy silence that feel between them. It was quite some time before Edmund said meekly, "Well… I suppose I should've expected that. After all…" He offered Al a weak smile. "After you've found an entire world inside an old kook's wardrobe, been inside a talking beaver's dam, and spoken with a faun, there's not much else to see, I reckon."

The armor perked up considerably. "Talking beavers?"

------

How he managed to get himself into these situations, Edward would never know. Chasing after bad guys, being shipped to another world, zipping along a frozen countryside as the prisoner of a marshmallow freak… really, it was all one big conspiracy against him.

Dealing with talking wolves had not been fun. The whole time they "escorted" him back to Jadis, they had nipped at his heels and taunted him by calling him the "poor little Son of Adam", whatever that meant. Just before he froze to death, thereby forming a Pevensie-Elric popsicle, Jadis and her sleigh mercifully appeared. Jadis, of course, was none too pleased over his escape attempt. He supposed that the slap would've hurt quite a bit if he could've actually felt his face.

And so, Edward once again found himself huddled down in the bottom of the sleigh and at the complete and utter mercy of a woman in a marshmallow dress.

Joy.

Things were changing, though. The longer they traveled, the more Edward began to realize that he could actually see the sun and blue skies surrounding it. And though it wasn't by much, the temperature had been rising. The snow was melting.

If he was any sort of genius (and he _was_), he'd think that the Pevensies had some sort of hand in the disappearing snow. The voice in his dream had certainly stressed their importance and, even though it would be far more sensible to attribute the sudden fluctuation in weather to the seasons simply changing, Edward didn't think that that was the case. After all, this place--this _Narnia_--was stranger than anything he had ever seen, Gate of Truth, notwithstanding. Edward reasoned that, if he could hold a perfectly intelligent conversation with a man-goat chimera, then who was he to say that a bunch of kids weren't capable of changing an entire country?

------

The next few days saw Mustang looking through reports that the Investigations department had written about Azure's corpse. While they had been able to positively identify the body using dental records, it had been difficult simply due to the large amount of teeth missing. As it had been obvious without an autopsy, Azure had been badly beaten, most likely as a way to subdue him. Whoever it was that killed him certainly had issues against the rogue State Alchemist. The final stab wound count had equaled fifty-two, a bit larger than the thirty Roy had guessed at the crime scene.

The term "crime scene", though, was used loosely. There was no evidence to suggest that that particular location was where Azure had died. No blood had pooled around the body, so it was clear that the man had been dead long before being dumped on the outskirts of the city. The body hadn't decomposed as quickly as it should have, though, which made Roy think back to Barry the Chopper and his refrigerated truck.

Sighing, he closed the file he had been reading and sprawled out across his desk, right arm under his head with his hand hanging loosely off the edge of the desk. As his eyes slid shut, he wondered what the hell he was going to do. Knowing how and when Azure had died was fine and dandy, but that didn't solve the tiny problem of how to get Edmund home. There was no way of knowing where the mad alchemist had kept his research, and even if they did find it, he would've written it in code. The ones best suited for decoding the notes of an alchemist were other alchemists, and Roy needed the best and the brightest on a case such as this.

As luck would have it, his best and brightest was Edward, and Edward worked best when paired with his brother.

Of course, this was all assuming that Azure had even kept notes during his research.

_Whatever gods are plotting this all out must really hate me, _Roy thought drearily.

His attention was drawn to his office door as the doorknob turned and the door opened to reveal someone he never expected to see. "Sleeping on the job again, Roy?"

"Maes." He blinked in surprise, pulling himself back up to sit up straight. "What are doing all the way out here in East City? Don't tell me they gave you the same demotion of a transfer as they did me."

Hughes laughed. "No, no. My boss told me I had to take some vacation time and I decided to come out here and surprise you with a visit." The lieutenant colonel ambled over to one of the leather couches in front of Roy's desk and plopped down, lifting his feet up onto the coffee table. He folded his arms behind his head and shot the colonel a sidelong look through his glasses. Now that the man mentioned it, Roy did recall receiving a call from his friend about Hughes expressing a desire to visit him in East City. He had been so busy working on the Azure case (not to mention losing his mind over it) that he had completely forgotten about it.

Roy snorted, pushing his chair back and moving to join his friend on the sofa. "You and I both know that's a lie, Maes. If you took a vacation we both know it'd be to somewhere where you could take legions of photos of your precious Elysia."

The mention of his sweet little angel pushed Hughes into what his coworkers called the 'Elysia Zone'. "Oh, speaking of Elysia, guess what she did the other day!" he cooed, pulling his infamous photographs out of his pocket. "Look, Roy! Look! Just last week she was learning how to read! Here she is trying to read to Gracia just before bed. Isn't she adorable in her little nightgown?"

"Maes." The colonel's fingers twitched; the extremely rare thought that he sometimes regretted being Hughes's friend and therefore was not able to cause him bodily harm flitted across the back of his mind.

"But this one's the best! We went to a carnival and I won her a teddy bear that was twice as big as her! Look, see! She can't even wrap her arms all the way around it!"

"Maes!" Roy barked.

Maes blinked, pushing his glasses up. "Yes?"

Mustang let out an irritated breath and placed a hand over his eyes. "I'm really not in the mood for all of this today."

Grounding himself once more, Hughes drew his brows together in a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

The colonel sighed. "I think I'm going crazy, Maes."

"Over the case?" Having a major role in the Investigations department made Hughes privy to a large variety of information concerning the hunt for Azure.

The colonel chewed the inside of his cheek. "Sort of. It's not the case I'm worried about… it's the people involved."

"Meaning Edward." It was a statement, not a question. Hughes knew that Roy worked hard to keep the Elrics protected, but that meant Edward more often than it did Alphonse. The older Elric boy had a knack for finding himself neck-deep in trouble. "What's happened now?"

Roy stopped chewing on the inside of his cheek in favor of chewing on the corner of his lower lip. "It's… rather difficult."

An eyebrow was raised and an amused look passed over Hughes's face. "When is it not?"

The Flame smiled weakly. "Good point." His grin faded, though, when his door swung open once more and Lieutenant Hawkeye entered the room, saluting the higher officers.

"The Elrics are here to see you, sir," she told Roy, who nodded in acknowledgment. Lieutenant Hawkeye left, leaving the door cracked open.

"Maes, I'm afraid we'll have to continue this later," the colonel said, pushing himself off the sofa. "You remember the old tavern just west of the park? Meet me there at eight." As an afterthought, he added, "I'll explain it then."

Despite feeling confused and somewhat left out of the loop, Hughes could only nod. "I'll be there." He clapped Roy on the shoulder before pulling the door open to see the infamous brothers standing outside his friend's office. "Hey, boys! It's been a while, huh?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes!" Al chirped. "What are you doing here?"

"Eh, business. Been too busy lately to actually take a vacation, and even if I did who'd be crazy enough to actually want to visit this dustbowl of a city?" he said, winking at Roy, who only grinned and shook his head.

Al nudged the blonde beside him. "Brother, don't be rude, say hello."

The older Elric looked up at the bespectacled man. "Hullo, Lieutenant Colonel." When he didn't say anything beyond that, an uncomfortable silence fell between the four of them. Al shuffled slightly, and Ed looked up at Roy, almost as if searching for instructions.

"Well," Hughes said, breaking the silence, "I'll see you later Roy. Don't do anything I wouldn't!" With a jovial wave, he was gone, but something didn't sit quite right with him.

Since when did Edward call him by his rank so impersonally?

------

**A/N: **HA! Betcha didn't see that one, did you:D Yes, Hughes is alive. Chronologically speaking, this takes place during the time when Ed is still reporting in to Mustang regularly, so it only made sense to keep him alive.


End file.
